‘Beasts Of The Southern Wild’ Star Quvenzhané Wallis In Contention To Play ‘Annie’

'Beasts Of The Southern Wild' Star Quvenzhané Wallis In Contention To Play 'Annie'

It’s one thing to be a young actress and deliver a performance that gets noticed. It’s quite another to get an Oscar nomination for your efforts, but Quvenzhané Wallis has been turning heads all through 2012 with her electric turn in “Beasts of the Southern Wild.” And while the actress has since taken a small role in Steve McQueen‘s “Twelve Years a Slave,” she may be quickly boosting herself up into blockbuster territory.

EW reports that Wallis is “in consideration” for the lead role of the brewing “Annie” remake, which recently nabbed “Easy A” director Will Gluck to direct. The new version of the musical that was previously turned into a hit 1982 movie, will be contemporary instead of set during the Great Depression, but that’s all the details there are for now. But with both Will Smith and Jay-Z combining their Voltron-like producing powers, this one is gonna be big no matter how you slice it, and it would be quite a leap up for Wallis if she lands the part.

But what happened to the previously rumored Willow Smith? Well, it turns out she wasn’t keen on the pressure. “Willow was supposed to be doing Annie, we got Jay-Z to do the movie, go the studio to come in and Willow had such a difficult time on tour with ‘Whip my Hair’ and she said, ‘You know Daddy,’ I don’t think so,” Big Willie recently told Temple University, adding that she also told him, “I have a better idea, how about I just be 12.”

Now, whether the newbie Wallis will be able to wrangle similar expectations is a big question, but we do have to say, it’s not one of the worst ideas we’ve heard. If this movie has to be made, might as well get someone who is relatively fresh faced and untapped to bring some energy to the proceedings than some Disney-bot child star. And with the movie aiming for a fall 2014 release, we’d imagine Wallis won’t be the last name rumored until a decision is made.